The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-10-06
THE FARMERS ALLIANCE AND
COOPERATIVE UNION
OF AMERICA fA\

Wants ana Needs of southern AgT1cut-
ture-4n Official Statement Of Its Scope,
Character and Purposes:
Mr.. n. H. G.. Elliott, Of Brown
wood, Texas, arrived in this city a
few days ago. Being regularly COM
missioned> as National Lecturer and
Organizer by the National Alliance,
and coming with the highest testi-
monials as to his character and posi-
ton, we sought an interview with him
with the view of presenting some Of
the chief features of this young but
powerful and rapidly growing insti-
tuition, to the readers. of The Pro
GREssIvE FARMER. We found Mr..
Elliott an Intelligent, straightforward
man, FRANK and unreserved in his
and thoroughly confident Of
the ultimate and grand success of the
order. W. give our questions and
his answers:
Q. when and where did the ALI,
ance originate ?"
A. 1T originated in 1872, in Lam
passas county, Texas, among farmers
and stockmen for protection against
depredations of horse and cattle thieves
and land swindlers 2"
Q. when did it begin to enlarge
the scope of it's purposes 2"
A. "In 1875 it appeared in Parker
county, and was then c%ultivating
| social and charitable relations among
it's members and also inaugurating in
a small way a crude system of selling
and buying together. 1t has grown
and spread and developed until now
we have 1874 organized counties in our
State, with a membership of PSI 900,
and a State Alliance, differed and
fully equipped to manage the business
and look after the interests of this
large body Of members"
Q. ITO what do you ascribe the
rapid growth Of your order in Texas 2"
A. at is due to several causes, but
it may be briefly stated, that the great
depression in agricultural interests
the utter helplessness Of the farmers
to control the products of their labor
the general system of ~servile de-
pendence which was gradually but
surely fastening itself upon us. These
crushing evils were growing upon us
and excited deep concern, if not alarm
among our thinking farmers, and
they were ~anxiously looking for relief;
so, they were not only ready, but IN
ious, to adopt just such measures of
relief as are offered by the Alliance;
hence they went into it by hundreds
and thousands
OILS your order, in any sense, a
political organization 2"
a. In a partisan sense. No.
There are important reasons why it
cannot be-. The Alliance is of necessity
a secret order, and we know that party
politics introduced into asecret Jusl-
ness organization would kill it, then we
could not belong to any order that
would require us to keep u political
principles or action a secret. Of
course we not only tolerate, but we
encourage and require our members
to study the science of economic gov
eminent. 1t is a business and not a
political organization
Q. "You say it is of necessity a
secret order will you please explain
why 2"
A. "Slmply to insure success. We
are learning some lessons from other
interests and other classes. One of
the most important lessons is, that to
succeed in any business, the plans and
methods to be employed in its prose
cution are not to be made public.
Merchants, banks, railroads. corpora
tons of any kind do not throw open
their plans and purposes to the world,
if they did they would never succeed.
We, the farmers of the South, must
adopt the same wise precautions. We
are a secret order simply because the
recognized successful systems of III
AGE admOnish rs that If is the road to